600 miles West of Gibraltar, U-37 attacks convoy HG-53 again at 6.33 AM sinking British SS Brandenburg (all 23 hands lost plus 26 of the 27 survivors rescued from SS Courland yesterday, 1 survivor picked up by destroyer HMS Velox and landed at Gibraltar). At 2.35 PM 200 miles West of Ireland, U-52 sinks British SS Canford Chine (all 35 hands killed).
Churchill orders General Wavell to prioritise helping Greece over continued operations in North Africa. In addition to honouring British commitments to Greece, Churchill hopes to sway American opinion and establish a Balkan coalition against Hitler.
German convoy carrying troops to Libya (steamers Ankara, Arcturus & Alicante, escorted by Italian destroyer Turbine and 3 torpedo boats) leaves Palermo, Sicily, on the final leg to Tripoli.
East Africa. Battle resumes in the Dongolaas Gorge near Keren, Eritrea. Indian 3rd Battalion, 1st Punjab Regiment retakes Brig's Peak. Further South, British General Cunningham launches Operation Canvas against Italian positions on the Juba River in Italian Somaliland.
Overnight, RAF Short Stirlings of No.7 Squadron bomb oil storage tanks at Rotterdam, Holland, and another 222 aircraft bomb Hannover, Germany.
Operation Colossus. 38 paratroops of No. 11 Special Air Service Battalion, known as X Troop, fly from Malta in 6 RAF Whitley bombers of No. 91 Squadron. At 10 PM, they parachute near the Tragino aqueduct, Southern Italy (which supplies fresh water to many Italian civilians and military facilities) and plant explosives on one of the columns.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment